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Calculating History

Remember the TI calculator models

I was remembering the robin’s egg blue TI-36 scientific calculator that I had before upgrading to the TI-82 graphing calculator. I envied those who had the newer TI-83, and the much coveted TI-83 plus, both of which played games. That's when one of the inventors of the hand-held calculator, Jerry Merryman, took to the podium at a donation ceremony at the

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1967 original, Texas Instruments donated a TI-58 and 59, a TI-30, a TI-Navigator Classroom System and the new TI-Nspire handhelds and computer software to the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of American History.

"Invention is a big part of American history," says the museum's director Brent Glass. "If you think about the history of technological education, it’s amazing what one little instrument has meant."

(
Courtesy of the National Museum of American History.
Above, Jerry Merryman)

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